USDA to label more biobased products after report finds $369 billion in industry

WASHINGTON, June 17, 2015 – An economic impact analysis released Wednesday by the USDA’s BioPreferred
Program found that U.S. biobased
products, such as biofuels and renewable chemicals, contribute $369 billion and
4 million jobs to the country’s economy.

Agriculture Secretary Tom
Vilsack said following the release of the report that he would be creating
additional opportunities for growth in renewable plant-based materials through
changes to the BioPreferred Program, which is supported with 2014 Farm Bill
dollars.

USDA is “adding to the number of innovative products
carrying the BioPreferred® label and expanding options for our nation's biorefineries,”
Vilsack said in a press
release. “This means small businesses and global companies alike
can continue to harness the power of America's farms and forests to create new
and innovative biobased products that are used all around the world."

Under the new rules, new
forest products that meet biobased content requirements and mature market
products with a significant market share prior to 1972 will be included in the
program and may carry the USDA BioPreferred label. Currently, the program
recognizes 14,000 biobased products in 97 categories.

Elements of the Biorefinery
Assistance Program, which supports development in the sector by
providing loan guarantees of up to $250 million for biorefineries and biobased
product manufacturing facilities, will also change, Vilsack said.

After a new rule is published in the Federal Register
next week, biorefineries that receive assistance through the program may
produce more renewable chemicals and other biobased products, and not primarily
advanced biofuels.

Biobased product manufacturing facilities would be
eligible to convert renewable chemicals and other biobased outputs of
biorefineries into "end-user" products. The new regulations also
implement a streamlined application process for the assistance program, USDA
said.

According to the report, which
was commissioned by USDA’s BioPreferred Program and authored by university
professors, each job in the U.S. biobased products industry generates 1.64 jobs
in other sectors. The report found in 2013, the industry supported 1.5
million jobs directly, 1.1 million jobs in related industries indirectly, and
1.4 million jobs in the retail of biobased products.

The report also found that the use of an estimated 40,000-biobased
products on the market in the U.S. displaces about 300 million gallons of
petroleum – the equivalent of taking 200,000 cars off the road – every year. And seven sectors – agriculture and
forestry, biorefining, biobased chemicals, enzymes, bioplastic bottles and
packaging, forest products and textiles – are the primary producers of
bioproducts in the U.S.

Lloyd Ritter, co-director of the Ag Energy Coalition, a
consortium of organizations and companies in the sustainable energy and
bioproducts sector, applauded the agency’s move.

“The BioPreferred Program enables biobased product
manufacturers to distinguish their products in the marketplace, using a label that
identifies the percentage of renewable content,” Ritter said, “(and) under the
new rules, more biobased products will be eligible for this program.”

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